A few months ago, Matt & I realized that we needed to get away and do something special for our 20th. Our initial plan was to drive up to Door County, WI to enjoy the beauty of the area and to explore some of the parks while it wasn't too crowded from the summer crowd. We booked our hotels and made arrangements for the kids. A few days before leaving, we looked at the weather and saw a horrible, horrible thing for our trip - SNOW! Not just a little rain/snow mix or pretty flurries that don't hit the ground. NO - three to six inches of snow!!, followed by cold temperatures & wind.
We quickly changed our plans to a bit further south - Chicago. We can't go wrong with Chicagoland! We decided to stay further north one night and west the second night.
We saw some cool lighthouses - some were out in the water, but this one was on land. We found a parking spot and went to see it up close.
Just down the hill from the first lighthouse was a parking lot with beach access. We pulled in and walked the boardwalk - snapping a few pictures along the way. It was still cold but the scene was beautiful - watching the waves come in and splash along the pier and sand was fun to see.
We drove down to the northern suburbs along the lake and drove around through a few different parks. We even made a quick stop at the train station...
We drove back north to get some yummy treats from Jelly Belly then checked in to our hotel so we could get cleaned up for dinner. We drove down to Lake Bluff to eat dinner at The Silo - oh yummy!!
After dinner, we talked about our plans for Saturday. We didn't have anything planned yet. We figured that Sunday would be spent at IKEA, Woodfield Mall & Lou Malnati's Pizza.
**side note**We had briefly discussed the possibility of going to a Cub's game over the weekend as we were packing. We did grab our Cub's gear as a "just in case"!**
We decided to look online and see if tickets were still available for the game - we were in luck and actually got some pretty good seats for a decent price!
We got up early the next morning, stopped for breakfast and then grabbed snacks & drinks at the gas station next to our hotel. We drove to the remote parking available for weekend Cubs games - delighted to see that they were loading up the buses ahead of their normal schedule! We loaded up our stuff (coats, phones, bag of snacks and drinks and camera bag) and hopped on the bus. Here we come Wrigley!!!
It's been quite a few years since I have been to Wrigley. We went a few times when I was younger. I remember sitting in the seats and keeping score. I remember my mom hollering "Keith...Keith...Keith!!!" in a very high-pitched (fan girl) voice. Poor Mom, Keith Moreland wouldn't acknowledge her. Unfortunately for her, we still tease her about that moment today! I remember catching the El after the game (I don't remember riding it before though??) and riding it back to our hotel. I remember eating at McDonald's before the game and my dad putting his money on the counter as we were ordering. The cashier kindly asked my dad to be put his money away until he gave him the total. We were confused (small town folks...). The cashier told dad that if others saw cash in his wallet (I'm sure he had a good amount since we were traveling), we could very likely be mugged. Other than those memories, I don't remember much about the game or Wrigley.
Fast forward to today - I was super excited to see Wrigley through new "adult" eyes. See the statues of the Cub legends. See the old scoreboard, the marquee, the press booths, the ivy (still brown), Gallagher Way ("Hello in the Park"!!), the bleachers, the waving flags, the players and of course the World Series Trophy! So much to look forward to!
It was Star Wars day at Wrigley (Star Wars Celebration was happening the same weekend in Chicago). We were there 2 1/2 hours early with the gates opening 2 hours before the game. The lines were already very very long! We stopped to snap a selfie in front of the marquee, all the while hearing officers yelling to everyone to continue to other gates - this gate was full.
We continued to the Gallagher Way Gate, went through security and made our way towards the back of the line. While walking around in this area, we encountered a handful of Star Wars characters - pretty fun!! Matt was able to get some good pictures - would've loved a picture with Chewbacca, but the line was too long for that! We had a trophy to see...
So, we found the Trophy Room and then realized that we would need to exit and then come back in through security again. Urgh.
Totally worth it though! I had read online that they limit pictures to one per person/group. We truly thought we would have to wait in a long line and only get one picture. We walked in and NO ONE was in the room except 2 workers! She allowed us to take as many pictures of the trophy as we wanted and then she took our picture. We asked about the picture limit and she said that if it is busy, they really try to stick to that rule. She said it was a pretty bad the first year. I guess it helps that we waited 2 1/2 years to go see it, lol!
We made our way back through security and waited for the gates to open. The next big thing was getting 2 of the 10,000 Cub/Star Wars Blankets. (We scored 2!! - absolutely made our day, as well as the kids once we got home!)
We walked up to our upper level seats and absolutely loved the view!
We compared seats and found out that they were just below us in 208! Just before the game started, they surprised us at our seats so we chatted for a few minutes and grabbed a picture. What a fun memory that we will have for years to come.
Almost time for the game - JD, Len, Pat & Coom are all in their booths and ready to go!
Even Clark enjoyed the Star Wars theme.
Jon Favreu threw out the first pitch!
We walked out of the ballpark - taking it all in. It was a great game, beautiful (if not a bit cold) weather and so many "Wrigley Bucket List" items fulfilled!
We woke up the next morning to a very ugly sight - SNOW. We had heard that Chicago would be getting snow that day. Unfortunately, it was true.
We ate breakfast and then headed to Woodfield Mall & IKEA for some shopping then ended our weekend eating deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's.
Driving home was a bit interesting...but it couldn't take away from the wonderful weekend!
Now to start planning #25 - let's make the Alaska cruise happen!
